Ender
by A.Signia
Summary: An alternate ending for the first book in the Ender series.


Stephen Trotto English 4-8  
  
Ms. Wuhl 4/26/03  
  
Ender An Alternate Ending to the Science Fiction Masterpiece, Ender's Game, By Orson Scott Card  
  
"What have I done" It was not a question. He knew very well what had happened. He watched the screen as his fighters fled from the explosion. He  
  
spoke the words just loud enough so he could hear them. He had to make sure he was still alive. The blast cleared and hundreds of the foreign figures on the screen lay dormant. Inactive. Dead. A boy of only eight, Andrew Wiggin has killed more people than anyone else in known history. Andrew, or Ender, as most everybody knew him by was taken into a military training school where the government watched his superior tactical skills both in and out of combat. That is why  
  
they brought him here. To Command School. The small shapes were once buzzing with erratic impulse, faster than any one pilot of any race could handle. They were being controlled by a single force. Their mother, the hive-mind, and Ender had just killed the hive- mind. They said not to use the weapon on the planet but he did. He knew what would happen. He knew what he did. He had just killed the entire race.  
  
Every last one of them. A few moments ago he would have cared. Ender would have cared. But he was no longer Ender, but now Ender the Xenocide: A brutal word the media would soon eternally attach to his name. He sat up from the simulator. The rows of acclaimed generals and commanders behind him cheered and cried and drank. Ender had broken the rules but he had won them the war. Several of the destinguished leaders approached Ender to shake his hand but he march past them. Not even turning his head. He saw them shouting and saw there laughter but he did not hear it. He continued into the hallways of the twisting school that orbit in the asteroid belt quite far from Earth. The last thing he heard was "What have I done". It was so horrible because his teachers told him it was a game. A mere simulation. The figures and shapes were all computer generated and no one got hurt. But it wasn't a game. It hadn't been a game for months know. The game Ender tired of. The game where Ender flung his own ships uncaringly into messes of enemy swarms just so he could end it. Just so he didn't have  
  
to play anymore. It was horrible because they told him it was a game, yes. But it felt even worse, infinitly worse, because he knew that if he was told it wasn't a game beforehand he would do the same exact thing. He lay in the hallways that brought back other horrible memories. The  
  
other two Ender had killed even before the games. Even before military school. Two bullies that picked and teased him. He had struck back so hard and with such anger so that they would never tease him again and he killed them. Ender the Xenocide. A door crept open behind him and a familiar shadow settled over Ender's crouched body. Mazer Rackham. The famous war pilot that had won the last two fights against the alien race called Buggers for their insect- like appearance. He had trained Ender before the games to prepare for them. "We have to go." "NO!" Ender swatted his tear-soaked arm at the aging warrior,  
  
"I won't go." He still huddled against the wall, curled over. "Ender-" Ender's arm came flying out once more. It would have knocked anyone else to their feet but Mazer had caught his wrist before it got any closer. Ender ripped his arm out of Mazer's grasp and ran to the end of the  
  
room, now standing, but still facing the wall. Do not call him Ender again and do not touch him again. "It's Peter" Mazer declared. Peter was Ender's older brother. When Ender left Earth, Peter was only eleven but he had aged greatly during Ender's flight to the Command School. He was now in his late thirties and had done what he always wanted to do. Peter Wiggin had established a global government and made himself leader. The Peter that had threatened to  
  
kill Ender and his sister on a daily basis and ripped apart smaller animals to keep himself from doing just that. Peter the monster was now Peter the god. Ender was the monster. Peter had always hated Ender because Ender passed the government's test three years before Peter even took his and failed. Know a leader of the Hegemon, Peter's only other goal know was to kill Ender and get away with it. Mazer didn't move from the entrance to the hall even though Ender had  
  
recessed even farther back, "The hegemony already knows what has happened. They know we cheated. They are sending warcraft from Saturn bases as we speak. We must go." "You know Peter has complete control over the hegemony. You know he can give a shit about the Buggers." "I know it's his excuse but the warcraft will be up here soon nonetheless. Now stop delaying. Escape ships are being loaded now. Your sister is already secure" "That's good" Ender began turning but immediately faced the wall again. Facing his shadow. "If you don't go now you will die. I'm not just your trainer, I am your protector" Ender turned to face Mazer. Mazer knew just what Ender was going to do. He knew he could stop him now. Ender took flight, taking the turn to his right. He ran as fast as he  
  
could. Mazer ran right behind him. The hallways shook. The ships had already arrived. They could hear explosions coming from the surface. They had already began the attack. Hundreds will be killed. Just for me. Ender the Xenocide. Ender the Anti- Christ. Rumbles came more often. Explosions, complimented by riddling gunfire, were heard more frequently. Mazer could out-do Ender physically anytime. This was not any time. The young boy used all his power to run and  
  
he kept going. The explosions got louder, rumbles harder, gunfire clearer. They were  
  
approaching the surface. Mazer wondered when this winding, twisting hall of  
  
stairs, doors, and ramps would raise above subterranea. Ender turned a corner. When Mazer turned it too he saw the doors closing. He had made it to an elevator. He watched the light crawl from light to light. The last light in the the row flashed to life, blinked out of existance just as fast, and began it's journey to the left again. "He sent the elevator back down for me. Polite of the little bastard" Moments later the elevator doors patiently slid open, unaware of what  
  
was going on around it. Mazer punched the top button and it climb upward. The elevator rattled now and then. Lights flickered. Noises of war came closer. The cart shook violently. He could feel the cart pushing upward faster. Lights blanked out for seconds now. The elevator smashed into the roof of the shaft. The cart went dark. One door fell open. Mazer climb out of the elevator cart that seemed like it was gripping  
  
for its life. Straight ahead was a plane of dusty brown smooth asteroid rock. Footprints were pressed at long distances apart. Mazer's eyes followed the footprints upward. Land ended and a metal scaffold began. Ender's shadow began where land ended. He was going to walk across the scaffold that protrude out the edge of the asteroid. He was going to die. Mazer took a quick look behind him to see maginificent towers falling, ships landing randomly and emptying out. Dust and fire loomed freely with flying bullets and grenades. Ender was at the base of the scaffold and pressing onward, slowly. His shadow danced behind magnificent light of an unkown source. Mazer stepped after him. The light got brighter. Ender was in the middle of the scaffold when Mazer had just reached its beginning. The black space around the asteroid was melting away into light. Ender was at the tip of the scaffold. Mazer was about fifty feet behind him in his shadow. The loudest of the explosions began. The largest ship of  
  
the invasion was appearing right before Ender. Ripping through the shield around the asteroid. It journey onward relentlessly. Ender masked his face with his arm for a moment but pulled both his arms back, embracing the light. Through all the white was a line of black. An oblique dark glass plate stared Ender in the face. Anyone could be behind there, but Ender saw Peter. The ship continued crusading on, brilliantly into the scaffold, into the asteroid, ripping up all in it's path. Destroying the offenders, the evil- doers, killing Ender. Ender the Xenocide was killed by Peter. The Loved God and Protector of Earth. 


End file.
